


Give Peas A Chance

by predilection



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Jungle Fury
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 23:24:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8264317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/predilection/pseuds/predilection
Summary: Dom locks Casey in Jungle Karma Pizza's cellar where RJ is slowly constructing a throne made out of canned peas.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [muse_in_denial](https://archiveofourown.org/users/muse_in_denial/gifts).



> Because reasons.
> 
> Reasons being that like five years ago, muse_in_denial asked me to write her a fic about Casey and RJ building a throne out of canned peas together and to title the story "Give Peas a Chance". 
> 
> No, seriously. That was her request. (Why do you do this to me? ♥) 
> 
> Anyway, better late than never, right?

Casey knew something was up. He knew this because he kept catching Dom staring at him with a mischievously smirk on his face. The last time Casey had seen that smirk, Dom had orchestrated the Great Animal Cracker Incident of 2009 after which all of them had ended up with edible animal parts in their hair.

Casey also noticed that Dom kept checking his watch and then grinning in a way that was totally not suspicious at all.

And so Casey should've been suspicious when Dom asked him to go down to the cellar to grab some more pepperoni from the fridge there. He should've taken one look at the Dom's scheming face and told him to get it himself. But Casey was asked to get extra ingredients from the cellar all the time and so Casey was on autopilot when he took his apron off and jogged down the stairs to the cellar. It was only when he stepped inside that he realized something strange was a foot.

For one, RJ was sitting cross-legged in the back corner of the cellar stacking what looked to be cans of peas. For another, Dom had practically jumped down the stairs behind him until he had a hand on the latch of the cellar door.

RJ shouted, "The door!" just as Dom shut it and secured it behind them. 

He could hear Dom cackling. "No time like the present!" he shouted through the door before Casey heard his footsteps retreat up the stairs.

"Um," Casey said, trying the door and realizing it was locked. There were many questions Casey wanted to ask, not the least of which was what Dom was scheming, but when he found his voice, all Casey managed was, "Are you making a castle out of cans of peas?"

"A castle?" RJ blinked at him and then blinked at the cans he was stacking. He made a sweeping gesture towards them. "It's not a castle. It's a throne."

"Okay," Casey said, walking towards him. "Why are you making a throne out of cans of peas?"

RJ seemed to consider this. "Well, I suppose I could've made one out of cans of corn, but it wouldn't be the same."

RJ resumed stacking the cans. Casey crouched on the other side of the canned structure. Looking at it again, Casey could make out the foundation he was constructing.

Following RJ's lead, Casey added a can to the structure and then another one. "Are you going to tell me why Dom locked us in the cellar?"

RJ frowned at the can he had just put down and moved it slightly to the left. "You'd have to ask Dom," RJ said. Curiously, he didn't look up when he said it and he sounded a little morose and... guilty?

Casey reached in his pocket for his phone and cursed when he realized it was in the pocket of his apron, hanging on his hook upstairs. "I don't have my phone," he said. "I can't call Lily or Fran to let us out."

RJ nodded. "Dom confiscated mine." 

Casey narrowed his eyes at RJ. RJ had to know more than he was letting on. "So instead of attempting to escape or making enough noise that someone will notice us and open the door, we're..."

"Making a throne," RJ finished.

"Out of canned peas," Casey said.

"Out of canned peas," RJ agreed. He finally looked up at Casey and the corner of his mouth quirked upwards.

They continued to make the throne in relative silence. RJ only spoke when he pointed out where he wanted Casey to stack the cans. The silence seemed heavy and awkward in a way it never was between them and that made Casey worry.

"Are you okay, RJ?" he asked. 

"You're right," RJ said, reaching for another can. "We could make this a castle."

Casey caught his wrist. "What did Dom do this time?"

"Besides lock us in the cellar?" RJ asked.

Casey didn't let go. "What's going on, RJ?"

RJ huffed, pulling out of Casey's grip. He stood and circled the incomplete throne twice, studying it intently. "Maybe we should add some corn."

"RJ," Casey said, worry audible in his voice. RJ must have caught it, because he paused in his examination of the throne and sighed.

"Dom is being Dom," RJ said.

"What does that mean?" Casey asked.

"It means that Dom is... meddling."

Casey stood and stepped closer to RJ. "Meddling in what? Your surprisingly large collection of canned vegetables?"

RJ snorted, but his voice was humorless when he replied, "My life."

"Okay," Casey said. "And that's why Dom locked us in the cellar?" Casey was not following RJ's logic.

"Pretty much," RJ said. He kneeled down and went back to staking cans of peas as Casey stood over him, confused.

"What's going on, RJ?" Casey asked gently. RJ opened his mouth and Casey hastily cut him off. "And don't say anything about canned vegetables." 

RJ shut his mouth and grimaced. Then he picked up a can of corn and added it to his throne. When he spoke, his tone was soft but serious. "Dom wants me to tell you something."

"What does he want you to tell me?" Casey asked, watching RJ as he piled more cans of corn onto the throne. 

"Something that isn't any of his business," RJ replied.

"Is it my business?" Casey asked.

"I'm not sure you want it to be," RJ replied so quietly that Casey almost didn't hear him. Before Casey could process that, RJ stood and surveyed his creation again. "I think I need to build up the back of the throne. It's not structurally stable yet." He reached for another skid of cans.

"Isn't it up to me to decide if I want it to be my business?" Casey asked gently, crouching next to RJ when he started stacking cans from the new skid. 

RJ didn't look up from his cans. "It's silly."

Casey's lips quirked upwards. "Sillier than a throne made out of canned peas?"

"It's about five percent canned corn now," RJ pointed out with a slight smile, negating some of the tension in the room. Then he sighed, looked Casey in the eye and said, "I like you."

When nothing else was forthcoming, Casey said, "Okay. I like you, too."

RJ let out a frustrated sounding breath and ran a hand through his hair. "No, I _like_ you."

Casey blinked at him for a moment before he got what RJ was telling him. "Oh," he said, pleasantly surprised by this revelation. He could feel his cheeks heat.

"Yeah," RJ said, sighing and turning away to resume stacking cans. 

Casey smiled, but RJ was no longer looking his way. "That's what Dom wanted you to tell me? That's why he locked us both down here?" 

RJ nodded.

"And that's why you're so worried?"

RJ frowned before nodding again.

"Well, I have to say I think this is my business," Casey said happily. "Because I happen to _like_ you, too."

Slowly and cautiously, RJ raised his head and looked over at Casey. Casey stared back, hoping the warmth he felt was reflected in the way he couldn't stop smiling. 

RJ tiled his head, studying Casey. "You're serious," he said and he sounded like he didn't quite believe it.

"Yep," Casey said.

RJ huffed out a surprised sounding breath. "Huh. I wasn't expecting that," he admitted.

Casey snorted, adding cans to the spot RJ was last working on. "What? That I like you? I thought that was obvious."

A small smile appeared on RJ's face. "Then I suppose I've been... oblivious."

Casey was still grinning. "Well, the good news is that you're not anymore, right?"

RJ grinned back, looking pleased. "No, I'm... definitely not."

"So is Dom going to let us out of here now?" Casey asked a few minutes later, when they both resumed constructing the throne. "And should we thank him for this revelation?"

"Probably." RJ shook his head, a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. "And if we want to thank him, I know a way we can show him just how appreciative we are..."

*

They were ready for Dom when, an hour later, he banged on the cellar door and called out, "RJ, you better have confessed because I'm opening the--"

Hearing Dom's voice cut off when he entered the cellar and peered inside was one of the most gratifying sounds Casey had ever heard. 

Casey was straddling RJ's lap as RJ sat triumphantly in his rather impressive looking throne of canned peas and corn. Casey hid his laughter in RJ's neck and then kissed RJ's jaw. RJ had one of his arms wrapped across Casey's back and momentarily tightened his hold in appreciation.

"Can I help you with something?" RJ asked Dom with a straight face.

There was silence, and after schooling his expression so his amusement didn't show, Casey looked over his shoulder at Dom. 

Dom's eyes were comically wide and his mouth was hanging open. He closed his mouth and then opened it again, but no sound came out.

"Well?" RJ asked.

"Is that a chair? Made out of _canned peas_?" Dom asked when he finally found his voice.

RJ huffed. "I'll have you know that it's a throne, and that it's approximately thirty-five percent canned corn."

"And is Casey..." Dom shook his head and walked backwards out into the hall. "No. You know what? I've decided that as happy as I am for you both -- congratulations, by the way -- I don't want to know."

Then Dom fled. There was no other word for it. He turned on his heel and ran up the stairs, leaving the cellar door wide open.

The moment he was gone, Casey laughed so hard he had trouble breathing. RJ laughed too, and because of his position, Casey felt his laughter along his entire body. It was a pleasant sensation.

"That was a good plan," he told RJ, shifting so he could look RJ in the eye. "And the door is open now. We can get out of here."

RJ grinned and leaning forward, pressed a chaste kiss to Casey's lips. "You know, I think we're both overdue for our lunch breaks. Perhaps we should spend them together somewhere else. Somewhere with... less peas." 

Catching on to what RJ was suggesting, Casey pulled away from RJ and got to his feet. "And somewhere with less corn?" He offered RJ a hand up, which RJ took. "If I'm not mistaken, there are no canned vegetables in my hammock."

"We should check, just to make sure," RJ suggested, eyes sparkling with humor, and Casey laughed as, side by side, they headed for the door.


End file.
